The 2019 Lok Sabha election was undoubtedly a calculated rightist takeover of the country; a victory so massive that its magnitude was beyond the expectations of even some in the Sangh Parivar.
A well-oiled machine
It is important to acknowledge that this victory was no overnight incident. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and its various outfits were working assiduously towards this from 2014. About 6,00,000 well-trained swayamsevaks were deployed at the grass-roots level. Social media was used to effectively communicate the Sangh Parivar’s message. Thousands of WhatsApp groups worked overtime. A section of the print and visual media aided the RSS, its organisations and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). This well-thought-out strategy and well-oiled machine worked — sometimes visibly, sometimes invisibly — and carried the idea of majoritarian politics all over the country — to cities, towns and villages.
The Election Commission (EC) uses the words ‘free and fair’ to talk about elections, but these words have become meaningless today. The EC was brought to its knees during this election. Money and muscle power also played a very big role in the BJP’s victory. Electoral bonds were seen as a way of bringing accountability and transparency in political funding. But the use of electoral bonds has opened the doors to corporate India to influence the political structure. It is estimated that the BJP was the biggest beneficiary of the electoral bond scheme this time; it reportedly bagged 95% of the funds.
Social engineering was the favourite theme in the 2014 election as well as in 2019. This time, this theme was applied at the micro level. Religion and caste factors were used in a very clever manner, while real issues like unemployment, price rise, the chaos caused by demonetisation, the problems in implementing the Goods and Services Tax, and atrocities against Dalits and minorities were not discussed. History has shown us that rulers who fail to fulfil their promises use war and pseudo-nationalism as their road to victory. This was true of this election too. The BJP focussed on the air strikes carried out by the Indian Air Force on Balakot as well as on the 2016 surgical strikes. Questions about the Rafale deal were papered over in the name of nationalism and defence preparedness of the country. Truth was the biggest causality in an enormous propaganda warfare.
Disunited Opposition
It was against all this that the Opposition had to fight. Ideologically, politically and organisationally, the BJP camp was well organised, whereas the Opposition camp was disunited. Even though almost all Opposition parties, including the Congress, talked about the necessity to defeat the BJP, none of them took the fight seriously on the battleground. Narrow partisan priorities and individual vanities overshadowed their electoral strategy. The Opposition parties were not concerned about securing the future of secularism in India. That the BJP increased its vote share from 2014 means that these Opposition parties need to seriously introspect. If these parties had been united, they could have won the battle. But due to lack of foresight, they missed the bus.
The Communist Party of India (CPI) had put forth the idea of a broad platform of secular, democratic forces and had campaigned for the same. But most of the secular and democratic political parties failed to understand the significance of such a platform. The experience in Tamil Nadu, where the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam took a commendable position to forge an alliance of like-minded parties, has lessons for the democratic forces.
The call of the CPI for the ‘reunification of the Communist movement on a principled basis’ has special significance now. Communists accept with humility that they are not such a big force to decide the destiny of the nation single-handedly. They are aware of the serious setback faced in this election. The CPI and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) together have only five seats in the Lok Sabha, the lowest they have ever had in Parliament. Even in communist strongholds, both parties lost miserably. Naturally they are obliged to look deep into the causes of this shameful defeat. Communists are definitely not going to give up their struggles because of this electoral debacle. They have to be in the thick of things in the days to come — in all the mass struggles.
A glorious history
Communists have ample reason to be proud of their glorious history of struggle and sacrifice. It is the communists who put forth the agenda of complete independence before the freedom movement, for the first time. In free India, it is the communists who fought for the cause of the oppressed in all walks of life. It is the communists who first raised the slogan of bank nationalisation and called for the end of Privy Purse. It is the communists who fought against separatist forces in Jammu and Kashmir, and Punjab, for the unity of India. Hundreds of communists were martyred in those struggles. In Ayodhya, communists built the wall of love for communal harmony. Communists have championed the cause of secularism wherever and whenever communal forces have come out to undermine the Indian concept of unity in diversity. In the ideological fight against fascism, communists have always been in the forefront, even losing people like Govind Pansare. This great movement which was built on the blood, sweat and tears of the toiling masses cannot be brought down by an electoral defeat.
But the communist movement based on the science of Marxism has no right to close its eyes to the reasons for this setback. Ideologically, politically and organisationally it should introspect and it should do so keeping in mind a unified communist movement. More than five decades have passed since the Indian communist movement split. The communists have fought differently, the result of which is now before everyone to evaluate. At this juncture, the downtrodden who regard the red flag as the flag of hope urge all communist parties to think seriously about reunification.
Binoy Viswam is the secretary of the CPI National Council and Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha
Published - June 13, 2019 12:15 am IST
